I love thinking about Jesus and the Cross because it intregues me in every way. If you haven’t looked at the Cross lately, look again. The doctrine, the intimacy, the humility, the power, the simplicity … and the ”who in the world thinks of something like that?”.
The Cross is where we see the true heart of God. It is where we fall in love with Jesus. The cross has kept it’s rightfully central place in Christianity for the very reason that it is the perfect picture of God. Not only is it a picture of God, but it is where we find our true identity. That sacrifice shows the depravity of our souls as well as the worth of our hearts to God.
“Good Jesus, the chalice you drank, the price of our redemption, makes me love you more than all the rest. This alone would be enough to claim our love. This, I say, is what wins our love so sweetly, justly demands it, firmly binds it, deeply affects it. Our Savior had to toil so hard in this, in fact in making the whole world the Creator did not labor so much. Then he spoke and they were made; he commanded and they were created. But in saving us he had to endure men who contradicted his words, criticized his actions, ridiculed his sufferings, and mocked his death. See how much he loved us. Add to this the fact that he was not returning love but freely offering it.”
- Bernard of Clairvaux
OUR DEPRAVITY
The cross reveals the hideous unpleasantness of sin in that to purchase our redemption Christ was orphaned and crushed by His Father. Our sin is deeper and uglier than we may presume. God is so beautiful and holy that even the slightest act or thought of pride is an act worthy of eternal damnation. None of us could ever pay the price of our sins (which is why Hell will continue forever). Without Christ’s sacrificial death for us salvation would be impossible.
We cannot overestimate or exaggerate how much the Trinity suffered. Jesus suffered more than any other man. He died as a victim of small minds and as a martyr to his own greatness. Jesus experienced not merely a felt, but a real abandonment by his father.
There was no other option. The Father had to crush and forsake Jesus; and Jesus had to become a man and be despised and rejected. All this was necessary. Necessary because of our sin - the darkness of our heart.
OUR BEAUTY
The cross also shows the love of God. He died on the Cross so that we could not only be saved out of our sin but brought into His Kingdom! Thank God!
Jesus went to the cross for one reason: Desire. His heart was full of love for us and he would not let eternity begin without a bride equally yoked. The pain and agony of His death was counted as a joy because He knew who He would get as a result: you and me.
“Father, I desire that they would be with me where I am.” (John 17)
THE TRUTH ABOUT DESIRE
We were made with real desires. We were made to know and touch God. We feel that longing but we repent of it and hide it in embarassment. Emotion is from the Lord, and He has put within each of our hearts a longing for fellowship and friendship with Him. We were made for eternity.
If God didn’t want us to love Him with all our heart He wouldn’t have provided a means through His blood; let put it in us to want to love Him. If you think that you are not beautiful to God, think again. Every step Jesus took down Via Dolorosa was was proof that you are lovely to God.
Hollie said:
Shawn, this is a beautiful post! I imagine I’ll reread it before the day is through.
I love how you said “the the cross is where we fall in love with Jesus.” Most times when I’m acutely feeling the need to be romanced again by Jesus, I don’t turn instinctively to the Song of Songs as one might expect; it’s the gospel accounts of the passion and crucifixion that woo my heart in particular.
Posted on April 7, 2007 at 5:50 am
Ruth said:
wow. The cross…how can we fail to look at the crucifixion of our Lord. The One who died on a rough wooden cross. A tree He Himself created…this is mind blowing, heartbreaking…
That He had to give His permission for every nail, for everytime they rose their hands to flog Him…all He thought was “This is for Shawn, this is for Hollie, this is for Ruth and so on…”
You said: “That sacrifice shows the depravity of our souls as well as the worth of our hearts to God.”
..The pain He had to endure, the shame…it shows us how serious God takes sin, how bad the sin of the world is…amazing.
Like you said as well..Jesus even experienced abandonment by His Father..where He doesn’t cry out “My Father, my Father why have you forsaken Me” But “My God My God why have you forsaken Me…”
I think if you are really proud and haughty, you can never see the cross and its beauty. To see the cross, the beauty of the cross and our Christ we must bow down fall on our knees, humble ourselves just like Jesus humbled Himself for our sake…and only then we can worship the One who died and rose again.
Excellent post!!
Posted on April 7, 2007 at 10:05 am
{Shawn} said:
@ Ruth: John R. W. Stott said “only the crucified man can preach the cross.”
Posted on April 7, 2007 at 10:15 am
The Cross | The Fight Spot said:
[…] Update: You can read another article I write on The Cross here. […]
Posted on April 7, 2007 at 10:38 am
Evan Olsen said:
I recently got a better perspective of what Jesus did (from those Song of Song outlines) and for a few days I was walking around not being able to think about anything else. It’s so crazy that He did that so that He could have my love.
My love doesn’t really feel worth it to do all that, but still He wanted it..
I also just read something on someone’s blog (I think ben woods) about how it pleased God to crush Jesus like that…that’s pretty amazing too. He knew what would come out of it, so it was something beautiful.
Posted on April 7, 2007 at 10:59 am
After His own heart… said:
[…] pm Ingedeeld onder: the cross - het kruis Shawn Blanc wrote an excellent post on the cross right here. Make sure you check it […]
Posted on April 7, 2007 at 12:18 pm
Sharon said:
I love that He called it
“the day of the gladness of His heart”.
Posted on April 8, 2007 at 2:58 pm
Chelsea said:
I’ve never thought about it that way.. as Jesus being the proof that we are lovely to God. I’ve always thought the proof solely was in the Word.
Posted on April 8, 2007 at 11:24 pm
Robin said:
“We were made to know and touch God. We feel that longing but we repent of it and hide it in embarassment.”
Ouch. There is a silent crying out and trashing about in me because this is my current condition. Having so much longing but running into my own shortcomings and inability to truly pursue Him as I want and need to. Breaking my heart. Stopping dead in my tracks because I simply don’t know what to do. Waiting on Him to teach me.
Oh God. You are my desire.
Posted on April 9, 2007 at 1:31 pm
peter said:
Gods holiness demanded a law, and the broken law demanded Gods justice,and in the face of Gods law and justice satan became the accuser of man, and God had chosen the cross to meet the demand of justice. Man was to face Gods justice,but Gods justice was poured out upon his son Jesus, he took our place praise God. he bore the penilty of sin that we might have eternal life, and broke the power of satan over our lives through his blood,glory to the lamb
Posted on February 11, 2008 at 11:01 pm